ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ANAHEIM, CALIF.
SOURCE: LARRY GERBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE NOT-SO-FREE, fully automated toll road opened Wednesday in California, with a meter on the dashboard taking the ``toll.''
America's first fully automated, privately built toll road opened Wednesday, a 10-mile stretch that features rates based on congestion and employs dashboard-mounted meters instead of toll-takers.
The opening of the not-so-free way - a road designed to ease the commute in Orange County - actually snarled traffic along Highway 91.
Cars in the normal eastbound lanes slowed to a crawl for four miles as motorists gawked at the dignitaries at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the freeway median. Some drivers honked and yelled.
The toll road opens two additional lanes in either direction on the highway and uses radio receivers that take signals from tiny transponders in subscribers' cars. The signals go to a computer center that debits prepaid accounts of motorists up to $2.50 at peak hours.
A ``laser curtain'' suspended over the lanes counts vehicles. Video cameras catch the license numbers of cheaters, who face fines of $100 and up.
``Again, California is leading the way for the whole nation in ground transportation,'' said James van Loben Sels, director of the state Department of Transportation.
No state or federal money went into the $126 million project, which was funded by 91 Express Lanes, a public-private partnership. Another private toll road opened earlier this year in northern Virginia, but it is not automated.
About 255,000 cars each day use the Riverside Freeway, which links offices and factories in urban Orange County with affordable homes and open spaces in inland Riverside and San Bernardino counties, one of the nation's fastest-growing areas.
The four regular westbound lanes jam up most mornings, and eastbound traffic stalls in the afternoon, turning drives of 40 to 50 miles into multi-hour ordeals.
``On a Friday afternoon, I've taken 21/2 hours to get home,'' said Mike Farraro of Tustin. He moved his family from Riverside four years ago largely because of the traffic.
Commuter rail lines that began service along the route this year are already loaded to capacity, said Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith, board chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority.
The project is envisioned as part of a network using express buses, carpools, trains and automation to relieve some of the world's most congested highways, van Loben Sels said.
The peak toll of $2.50 applies westbound between 5 and 9 a.m. and eastbound between 3 and 7 p.m. workdays except Friday, when peak hours are 2 to 8 p.m. Charges under the ``value pricing'' structure drop to 25 cents on a scale that makes travel cheaper when traffic is light.
Cars carrying three or more people may travel free, although they must still carry transponders.
The consortium wouldn't reveal how many people had signed up.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB